Candy Bar Cupcakes

My Mother's birthday is coming up this week and her absolute favorite cake is candy bar cake.  Our family tried this recipe out of Southern Living Magazine and it quickly became a family favorite and we often make it around my Mom's birthday.  Now I am not the best at making cakes, but I love to make cupcakes!  So, I decided to try and make my mom's favorite cake into a cupcake!  What could be better than the best cake in an individual serving size?

Besides, I had to try out my new Valentine's Day apron!

Ingredients

• 1 package Swiss chocolate cake mix
• 1 1/4 c water
• 1/2 c vegetable oil
• 3 large eggs
• 8 oz package cream cheese, softened
• 1 c powdered sugar
• 1/2 c granulated sugar
• 10 (1.5 oz) milk chocolate candy bars with almonds
• 12 oz container frozen whipped topping, thawed

Directions

1. Prepare cake mix according to box directions.

                    a. Preheat oven to 350 º F.

                    b. Place cupcake liners into pan.

                    c. Blend mix, water, oil and eggs at low speed until moistened (about 30 sec).

                    d. Beat at medium speed for 2 minutes.

                    e. Pour batter into liners, filling them 2/3 full.

 

 **Sidenote: I received this batter dispenser for Christmas, and it is amazing!!  You can neatly fill your cupcake liners with just the right amount of batter.  Just fill the dispenser with your batter, then squeeze the handle to dispense your batter.  You will more than likely be seeing this batter dispenser MANY times over.**

                    f. Bake 19-22 minutes.

                    g. Cool completely before frosting.

2. Chop candy bars finely.

3. Beat cream cheese, powdered sugar, and granulated sugar at medium speed with an electric mixer until creamy.

4. Fold cream cheese into mixture.

5. Fold chopped candy into mixture.

6. Insert the end of a dowel into the center of each cupcake to make a hole.

7. Fill a plastic bag with icing.  Snip a small corner off of the bag.

8. Insert the bag into the hole in the cupcake.

9. Gently squeeze the plastic bag until cupcake is full. 

10. Frost the top of each cupcake.

11. Enjoy!


What I Learned This Time

• The cupcakes do not need to bake for 19-22 minutes, as the box suggests.  I baked my cupcakes for 17 minutes and they were completely done, but not too dry.
• Taste test the cream cheese/powdered sugar/granulated sugar mixture.  When my mixture appeared creamy, I tasted it and the granulated sugar had yet to mix in well making the icing gritty.  I continued to mix the icing until it was no longer gritty.
• When filling the cupcakes, continue to squeeze icing into the cupcakes until you see the top of the cupcake begin to rise.  If you fill the cupcake with too much icing, you will see the top of the cupcake begin to split.
• I filled half of the cupcakes with icing, then frosted the top.  For the other half of the cupcakes, I just frosted the top.  The filled cupcakes tasted more like the candy bar cake from the original recipe and they also stayed moist longer.
• Make these cupcakes the night before.  They taste better the next day, after sitting covered in the refrigreator.

I defeintely enjoyed these cupcakes and would love to make them again.  While I don't think they could truly replace candy bar cake, they are not a bad substitute when you want a dessert that is easier for individual serving sizes.

Thanks to Southern Living Magazine for this family favorite!

Please comment below if you have tried this recipe or if you have any suggestions!

Mac and Cheese Cups

I was recently watching Grey's Anatomy and Dr. Bailey had these Mac & Cheese Cupcakes at her wedding reception.  Now I love any kind of pasta, and making into a single serving size that looks as food as a cupcake?  How could I resist?  A few days later I was in the grocery store and to my amazement, saw Mac and Cheese cups for the Superbowl on the latest issue of Family Circle!  I quickly grabbed the issue and went home, anxious to try out this recipe.

Ingredients

• 1 box (16 oz) elbow macaroni
• 2 T unsalted butter
• 2 T all-purpose flour
• 2 1/2 c milk
• 1 T Djon mustard
• 2 t onion powder
• 1/4 t salt
• 1/4 t pepper
• Pinch nutmeg
• Pinch cayenne
• 1/4 lb sliced American cheese
• 1 bag (8 oz) shredded cheddar cheese
• 1 egg, lightly beaten

Directions

1. Heat oven to 375 º F.

2. Bring a large pot of water to a boil.

3. Add macaroni to large pot of water and cook 8 minutes.

4. Drain pasta and return to pot.

5. While the pasta is cooking, melt butter in a saucepan over medium heat.

6. Add flour and cook for 1 minute.

7. Whisk in milk in a thin stream.

8. Whisk in mustard, onion powder, salt, pepper, nutmeg, and cayenne.

9. Bring to a simmer and cook 3 minutes, whisking occasionally.

10.  Remove from heat and whisk in American cheese and 1 cup cheddar cheese.

11. Whisk a small amount of the cheese sauce into the egg to temper.

12. Whisk the egg mixture back into cheese sauce.

13. Stir the cheese sauce into the macaroni.

14. Coat the indents of 16 standard muffin cups with nonstick cooking spray.

15. Divide macaroni among prepared cups.

16. Top each cup with 1 T of cheddar cheese.

17. Bake for 18 minutes until lightly browned.

18. Cool slightly before running a thin spatula around edge and spooning out of pans.

19. Enjoy!

What I Learned This Time

• I did not add in the nutmeg and cayenne because I did not have these spices on hand, but they still tasted delicious!  I may add them the next time I would make these, but have learned that it would be okay without these spices.
• Break up the American cheese slices into smaller pieces before adding them in to the mixture.  I threw the whole slices in and it took FOREVER for them to melt!
• I was able to make 18 good sized Mac and Cheese cups with the ingredients listed above.  Just fill your muffin tins up to the top.  If you leave a little bit of space and do not overflow them, it is much easier to pop them out afterwards.
• You do not have to measure out the 1 T of cheddar cheese to place on top of the mac and cheese before you bake it.  I measured the first 1 T, then just sprinkled cheese on the rest of the cups to cover the top.

These Mac and Cheese cups were amazing! These would be a wonderful addition to any Super Bowl party and would be something everyone would be sure to enjoy.

Thanks to Family Circle Magazine for this delicious recipe!

Please comment below if you have tried this recipe or if you have any suggestions!

Candy Cane Kiss Brownies

When I came across these Candy Cane Kiss Brownies on Pinterest, I knew that I had to try them.  What could be better than chocolate and peppermint around the holidays?

Brownie Ingredients

• 1 1/2 sticks unsalted butter
• 4 oz. unsweetened chocolate
• 2 c sugar
• 3 eggs
• 2 t vanilla
• 1/4 t salt
• 1 c flour

Icing Ingredients

• 3 sticks unsalted butter (room temperature)
• 3 c powdered sugar
• 2 t peppermint extract

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350 º F.

2. Place butter and chocolate into a microwave safe bowl.  Microwave on high for 90-120 seconds.

  

3. Stir butter and chocolate until melted and well combined.

4. Stir in sugar until well combined.

5. Add eggs one at a time.

6. Add vanilla and salt and stir until creamy.

7. Add the flour and stir until just combined.

8. Fill paper-lined mini cupcakes tins with a heaping tablespoon of brownie batter.

9. Press Candy Cane Hershey Kiss into center of brownie batter.

10. Cover with a little more brownie batter.

11. Bake 23-25 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the brownie comes out clean.

12. Let brownies cool completely before preparing the icing.

13. Whip the room temperature butter until creamy.

14. Add powdered sugar, one cup at a time, until fluffy.

15. Whip in peppermint extract.

16. Use red food coloring gel to paint stripes up the side of a piping bag.

17. Fill piping bag with buttercream icing.

18. Pipe icing onto brownies. (I tried a couple different tips while piping.  Please forgive my awful piping skills.  I am still learning!)

19. Enjoy!

What I Learned This Time

• When melting chocolate, start with 90 seconds and add time in 10 second increments.  You do not want to burn the chocolate!
• When filling the mini cupcake liners, it is much easier if you put your brownie batter into a plastic bag, snip off the corner, and use the bag to squeeze batter into the liners.  When I tried to spoon the batter into the liners, the liners were so small that it was difficult to get the batter straight into the liners and not all over the pan.  Also, this made it much easier to cover the Kisses with the remaining batter.
• Be very careful not to overbake the brownies!  I put my brownies in at 350 for just 21 minutes and they were slightly overbaked.  If making these again, I would either lower the oven temperature to 325 and bake for 20 minutes or keep the oven temperature at 350 and begin checking on the brownies at about 15 minutes.
• When putting the gel food coloring into the piping bag, make sure to make a thin line of gel!  On my first round of piping, I made the line of gel too thick and my icing came out mainly red on those cupcakes.

I would definitely make these cupcakes again.  My only complaint would be that after the brownies cooled, the Kisses became hard again.  They were still delicious though!

Thanks to Bake It in a Cake for this wonderful recipe!

Please comment below if you have tried this recipe or if you have any suggestions!